Monday, January 28, 2008

On Jan. 28, Canada marks the 20th anniversary of what may be the most astounding decision in the nation's legal history: R. vs. Morgentaler, the case that struck down Canada's abortion laws.

The Morgentaler case was followed the next year by Daigle vs. Tremblay, which clarified and amplified the Morgentaler ruling.

The result of the two decisions was to give Canada the Western world's most radical abortion regime. The mother's ownership of the pregnancy is absolute and final, and she may end it at any moment, for any reason. Neither the father of the child-to-be, nor the government, nor the child itself has any rights in the matter at all....Late-term abortions remain legal in Canada. When it was reported that no Canadian doctor would perform them, the Quebec government acted to create a new clinic in Montreal specifically for this purpose.

Shows how worthless human life is nowadays. Abortion supporters praise that as a triumph of "women's right to choose", without specifying what exactly is being chosen. They claim that abortion on demand is a woman's right which is not subject to debate, but what about the baby's right to life?

Poor-choicers claim that restricting abortions limits women's personal autonomy. However a decision which affects someone else's life (let alone - takes that life away) can never be considered as such. A notion that people could be forced to submit to one's decision, that a baby's life could be destroyed to benefit the adult, has nothing to do with personal autonomy. It's a radical autonomy, that unfortunately is often mistaken for a human right.